Curesearch 2016

September always seems to come fast for me. Summer gets busy and then school starts and then all of a sudden it's Curesearch, and I haven't done any fundraising for it. I signed our little family up under Lilly's team about a week and a half ago and I vowed we'd do better at fundraising next year. And then Lilly said, "Well, why can't we just do a Bake Sale this weekend?" So I agreed. I figured we'd get 5 or so donations and call it good. Lilly is quite the seller of baked goods! She did all the calling and ended up with 27 orders! She sold brownies, pumpkin chocolate chip cookies, oatmeal chocolate chip cookies, and oatmeal raisin cookies. After we made all of our deliveries, Lilly had raised $610 for Curesearch! I am so proud of her! Next year, we are going to start fundraising in January. That was A LOT of baking in one weekend! 

This is only pictures of a few people whom we delivered to. Thank You, Thank You to all who helped Lilly! 

It was quite rainy this morning on our way to Sugarhouse Park. But, as we pulled into the park, the clouds were parting and it ended up being a fairly good day weather wise. It is so great to see so many come out and raise money for Childhood Cancer Research. Because of all that Lilly has gone through, it is something we will always participate in. Our children need more money for cancer research to find a CURE! 

The nurses at Primary Children's Hospital always hand out balloons to those families who have lost loved ones to cancer. Lilly asked if she could have one for Michalla. It's a very emotional thing to watch... Kids gone far too soon!

And then those balloons are released into heaven.

And these are the heroes. The survivors. They were all honored and received medals. These are some of the strongest kids I know! 

Look at them all!

And then we walk. We walk in honor of all children fighting cancer. These cute girls were leading the pack! What a special day!

Lilly with her favorite tech Holly. And Lilly with one of her oncologists Dr. Lemons. 

Two of our favorite nurses - Nancy and Trish. Love them both so much!

Look at how BRAVE Em was! She not only danced with this silly mascot named Smudge, but she HUGGED him all by herself! This is a HUGE deal for her and we were beyond excited that she did it! Way to go Emery! You are one brave girl!

And look! She did it again with the Chick-fil-a Cow!!!

Every girl wants to be a Princess! 

Lilly got to smash the heck out of a watermelon - that was fun! And she loves to climb trees! 

But, one of the best parts of Curesearch was seeing Madeleine again. She lives in London but has been receiving treatment in Seattle and has been pretty sick, so we were so so excited to hear she was coming to Utah for Curesearch! Madeleine, you have touched our lives in more ways than you will ever know. We love you so much! Thank you for spending some time with us today. 

And we will be back again next year, and the year after that, and the year after that! Who wants to come walk with us? 

Hyundai Hope on Wheels

What a great opportunity for our family! Lilly was asked by Primary Children's Hospital if she would come and speak at this event. Hyundai Hope on Wheels awarded Primary Children's Hospital - specifically Dr. Engel - a $250,000 grant for childhood cancer research. Only 24 hospitals in the nation are awarded with this grant, and we are so grateful Primary Children's was one of them. 

I didn't plan it, but was glad I had Emery wear her "Millie" dress today! 

Nathan Miller - Hyundai Senior Group Manager of Regional Sales

Presenting Dr. Lemons with the check on behalf of Dr. Engel. (who was in Washington DC for a pediatric cancer summit also sponsored by Hyundai.) 

Dr. Lemons talked a little bit about the research Dr. Engel has been doing, specifically for T-Cell Leukemia. 

Lilly speaking a little bit about her cancer journey. She did so well! I'm proud of her. She said she wasn't nervous at all. Well, I was nervous for her! Way to go MISSY!

Lilly also presented Nathan Miller with an appreciation plaque from Primary Children's Hospital. 

Every child has a story to tell. Hyundai Hope on Wheels is committed to finding a cure for childhood cancer one handprint at a time.

"Thank you Hyundai Hope on Wheels for this grant. I hope it can help find a cure so that other kids like me don't have to get cancer." ~Lilly

ComicCon / Zoo

It was a fun day for all members of our family. We were given the opportunity by Make a Wish to go to ComicCon Friday. We knew that Emery wouldn't really enjoy it so, Mom and Grandma took Emery to the Zoo while Dad and Grandpa took Lilly to ComicCon.

Lilly and I were excited to dress up in our Harry Potter costumes. Lilly was even able to convince Grandpa to put on some robes.  We even ran into Professor Dumbledore and Hagrid along the way.

Lilly Saw this troll and was hoping she could shove her wand up his nose. Though she wasn't looking forward to all those "Boogies".

Had to take a pic of Boba Fett for uncle Gordon. 

Lilly was excited to see that Bay Max was there to administer care if necessary. "On a scale of 1-10, how do you rate your pain?" 

We even found a lost minion along the way!

Look who we found! Princess Ariel and her puppy Daisy. Ariel was there helping Melanie with her booth.

One person I was really looking forward to seeing again was Manu Bennett. For those that don't know or remember, in September 2014, the year Lilly was diagnosed, Millie's Princess Foundation invited us to the opening press conference for ComicCon. (Read Post from 2014) While we were there on stage Lilly gave Manu her passalong card. After he looked over her card and to our surprise he asked me if he could hold her. I obliged. He then carried her to the front of the stage grabbed the mic and promised Lilly he would donate $1,000 to help with her treatment. He also challenged other celebrities to do the same for children like Lilly. Wow! How nice!

Later we were able to see him and have a more candid conversation with him. Manu, was incredibly kind to her and our family. Lilly unfortunately got sick that evening and ended in up the hospital. The next day I went to see him again and told him about Lilly's situation. He told me to keep him informed of her progress. 

Since then I have been wanting to see him and thank him for his donation and tell him the exciting news that she had finished treatment and is doing wonderfully.  I spoke to some ComicCon volunteers to share her story about meeting Manu 2 years before. They were kind enough to take her right to the front of the line. Manu immediately recognized her and asked her how she was doing and had a friendly conversation with her. Afterward he quickly snatched her up for a hug. He was surprised by how much she'd grown since last he saw her.

Manu, is one classy man. Thank you so much for your generosity and kindness. 

While we we there we were also able to meet Lilly's favorite character from Harry Potter, Evanna Lynch aka Luna Lovegood.  Unfortunately they did not allow me to snap a picture of Lilly with her. But, we did get a signed copy. It really made her day.

Now it's my turn (Tiffany) to talk about our fun day at the Hogle Zoo. It wasn't crazy busy at the zoo and I'm guessing it's because everyone else was at ComicCon yesterday. Ha! Emery was so excited to go to the zoo - it has been over a year and a half since she's been. And I think she liked having Mom and Grandma all to herself!

Anytime we'd find an animal statue, Emery wanted a picture of it. She's quite the poser!

The Bird Show is our favorite! And Em was brave enough to give the Cockatoo a dollar (with my help). She was very hesitant, but kept talking about it afterwards. 

Way to go Em!

Em's favorite animal at the zoo is the elephants. And she will tell you that Baby Zuri isn't a baby anymore! She also loves the giraffes too - and loved seeing the new(ish) baby!

And we got to ride the train and see the baby lions and see a huge alligator with giant teeth. So fun!

Emery has always been scared to ride the carousel. She is a girl full of fears, that's for sure. But, we are working through those fears. The first time on the carousel, I went with her. She chose to sit on a baby elephant, but panicked at the last minute because she didn't want to go "up and down" so we sat in the peacock. The second time she went with grandma she sat on an Okapi, that still didn't go up and down, but she sat on it by herself with grandma close by. Good job Em! And while Grandma and Em were on the ride, I put my pregnant feet up to take a rest. Ha!

You can't go to the zoo without drinking water from the lion's mouth! It's tradition!